How should you Re-Brand your Business?
As seen on The Signwriters Blog.
The first question you ask yourself is ‘SHOULD I’ re-brand?
Re-branding is discussed when companies or products are experiencing lack lustre sales or a loss of brand awareness. Re-brands can be triggered by environmental or financial factors, such as change in leadership/ownership in the business; a change in marketplace/product type or business growth.
Before even contemplating a re-brand, or ‘how to do a re-brand’, a few fundamental questions should be considered, and applied to the business model of the brand:
– Is there a change in the market place among the target audience?
– Is there a change in the marketing place among our competitor brands that has caused us to think ‘re-branding’?
– Will the company lose familiarity and retained messages that consumers’ associate with the brand if I re-brand?
– If I re-brand do I want to evolve the current brand’s personality or give it an entirely new one?
When re-branding, recognition and awareness is one of the most difficult areas to assess and can often cause a far greater loss (not just in dollar value) to a business. This needs to be taken heavily into consideration.
If you do decide to embark on a total re-brand, there are a few fundamentals you’ll need to consider (and do) to ensure the re-brand is a success.
Clearly assess and communicate what are the main benefits of your brand to your consumers? What is your brand now, what’s the difference to where you want the brand to be? This will help you to capture, create confidence and connect with consumers in creating (or maintaining) brand loyalty.
What elements of the brand you will keep and which elements you will remove? This can be the difference between creating an emotional link with your consumers or not. A complete loss of familiarity with a brand has consequences, so it’s important to establish upfront what these elements are.
Will you use the same agency that created the original brand or is it time for a new agency? Create a criteria of what you are looking for to assess the new agencies. Is it beneficial to trade off previous experience/history (with the current brand) or utilise a company with no exposure to the brand?
Plan for the change over of all the current brands livery and collateral to the new brand. In some cases it is not economical to change everything at once, so the impact of a staged approached should be taken in consideration.
When should you NOT re-brand? If you simply ‘feel like a change’, you’re ‘a little bored’ with how its looking or you are not seeing the returns in your marketing efforts – in these cases, a re-brand should not be considered. However an update of a brands livery (online and off line) could serve as a great way to increase longevity.
Finally, your brand is the symbol of the emotional and psychological relationship your business has with your consumers. A re-brand can make or break a Company’s brand. Make sure you plan and manage it the right way.
The Signwriters Blog is an initiative of Signarama, the world’s largest sign company, and provides expert advice or updates on the latest in outdoor advertising, event management, branding, graphic design, signage and the retail experience.